CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

March 16, 1992

"I just got laughed at by three nurses because I said that I thought the name 'poutine' was a stupid name for food that actually tastes good," Reed remarked as he sat down in a chair in the waiting room, a plastic bag in his hands.

Beside him, his wife laughed lightly, resting her hands on the light bulge of her stomach, while on his other side, Nathan smiled, the corner of his mouth lifting up. In front of him, his two year old son, Julius, toddled back and forth in front of him, a building block in his hands. He turned back to his father and looked up at him with a big smile, walking closer as Reed took a Styrofoam box out of the bag and handed it over to Renee before giving another one to Nathan and taking one for himself.

"Well, they already laughed at the fact that you didn't understand what a parking lot was," Renee reminded him.

"He knew what it was," Nathan defended his friend. "It was just that the nurses couldn't understand his accent." He and Renee laughed as Reed rolled his eyes. He put the box of food aside and reached out, grabbing onto Julius under the arms and lifted him up onto his lap. "How long has she been in labor now?"

"For a while," Renee said. She looked at her watch before letting out a quiet sigh. "A bit longer than we thought she would be after being brought I last night. Christian hasn't said anything for a while, so I guess it's harder on her than she thought it would be." Bringing a hand up to her mouth, she started to chew on her thumbnail. "I hope she's alright."

"I'm sure she's fine, Renee," Nathan said. He pushed around his food, staring down at it. He cleared his throat then changed the subject, lowering his voice. "Do you think she'll end up being like Julius?" He asked, nodding over to the toddler as Reed carefully fed him small bites of poutine. "Do you think she'll have a mark?" He paused. "Though I must say that I'm surprised Julius awakened so early."

"We won't know until after she's born," Reed reminded him. "It might be a while until she starts to exhibit her own powers if she has any. But it's a good chance she will if Julius does, yeah?"

"Daddy," Julius said, reaching for more poutine, which was held a few inches from his grasp. "I'm hungry." Renee shot her husband a look before moving Julius over to her lap and gave him some of hers. "I don't wanna squish the baby." He reached out and gently patted his mother's stomach before pressing his ear against it.

"The baby'll be fine," Renee reassured him.

Reed smiled.

He looked up as footsteps headed their way and he found Christian waking towards them, carefully pulling off his face mask and gloves. Albeit appearing tired, with bags under his eyes, Christian couldn't help but smile widely. "As of ten minutes ago, my daughter was born," he announced.

"Oh Christian, congratulations!" Renee stood up, gently placing Julius on the floor before leaning over to her brother-in-law and giving him a hug. She stepped back out of the way to allow Reed and Nathan to congratulate him as well. "Are she and Kristen okay? She was in labor for a long time."

Christian hesitated. "There were some complications," he admitted. "Since she was born prematurely, there were some things they had to be careful of, which made it take some time." He then appeared nervous. "She's so small though, and the doctors want to keep her here for a while, to be sure everything's okay before she goes home." The large smile slid back onto his face. "But you can go in and see them before she's taken back."

"Sounds good," Nathan agreed. The group fell in step with Christian as they headed towards Kristen's hospital room. "We were just talking about the possibility of her becoming an Elemental like Julius is," he said. "If so, we'll have to keep an even bigger eye on them than we originally thought."

"It's a good thing that you mentioned that, because there's something that Kristen wants to ask you," Christian said. He nodded at a doctor that they passed before arriving at his wife's hospital room and walked inside. Kristen sat up in her bed, gently smiling down at the quiet bundle that was cradled in her arms. She looked up and smiled at her twin sister, her brother-in-law, her nephew, her husband, and her best friend.

"Hey," she greeted them all, her voice just above a whisper. "Do you want to meet your niece?" She gestured the baby out towards Renee, who took the bundle and sat down in the chair next to the bed and gently bounced her up and down. Julius walked over to his mother and looked down into his cousin's face, watching as she yawned before opening her eyes and looking up at her family.

"What's her name?" Nathan asked; reaching out and gently ran his finger across her nose. The baby's eyes crossed as she followed his finger then righted once more when he pulled it away, smiling a little.

"Crystalline Jade Manning, but Crystal for short," Kristen replied.

Reed snorted. "You all must have big egos if you want all of your names to sound similar." Renee shot him a glare and he shrugged in reply and Kristen laughed quietly. "I'm just saying."

"Oh really? Considering your names both start with an 'R' and Julius's middle names do, too," Christian pointed out. Reed shrugged one more and opened his arms, allowing Renee to pass Crystal over to him. She made a light cooing sound before bringing her fist up to the side of her face, opening and closing her palm. "Just saying we're not the only ones with egos."

"Must run in the family," Nathan remarked. He leaned over Kristen and gave her a kiss on the side of the head. "Good job, girl. Get some rest, okay?"

"I would once I know what you guys were thinking of in terms of whether or not we need to go into hiding," Kristen remarked. Despite how tired she appeared, there was still sharpness in her eyes. "I might've just had a baby, but I still know when there's something that I need to be included on."

"Which is hysterical considering she's the older twin," Renee pointed out with a half smile.

Kristen smiled back.

"I was saying that we can't make a decision until we know for sure whether or not there's anything to worry about," Nathan pointed out. "Not only do we not know if she'll get the gene, like Julius has, but we don't know if she'll exhibit it the same ways he did." He scratched the side of his neck. "Considering our studies, we all know that the awakening process can happen at any time, we just have to be sure that we're the only ones around when it does happen."

Christian nodded in agreement as he watched Reed hand Crystal over to Nathan, with Julius toddling along after him, wanting to keep an eye on the baby. If he had anything to say about it, she wouldn't exhibit any powers and get sucked in the world they had grown to know over the years.

For they all knew that getting into it was essentially a death sentence.

Cody brushed his hair back out of his face as he peered into an empty room then continued outside of the castle. It was strange to leave and go out onto the grounds and see how there were so many humans and animals living together in harmony. He could already see so many differences between the Element World and Earth, but a million similarities all the same. The social classes and economic structures seemed to rival the periods of civilization of the agricultural period before the industrial period calm along.

But on the other hand, it was the only part of the kingdom they had been allowed to see; the grounds, the nursery, the fields, and some of the areas that stretched out to the combining beaches. They weren't allowed to go to the volcanic areas, the snowy mountains, or other portions of the kingdom that they had only seen so far on maps, simply because it was too dangerous. If other beings, like Magnus, were to capture them, they wouldn't stand a chance.

Nevertheless, there was still so much to learn about the place that Cody couldn't wait to get started on. He wanted to know everything about the way they lived and what happened when they were completely in harmony, and what happened when Mother Nature, Father Time, Geneva, Gattaca, and maybe even Uriel were able to work together to make sure the peace of the world was restored. As far as Cody was concerned, the only thing that was weighing on his mind at the moment was what would happen when everything was finished. No to Earth but to the world they were never sure existed in the first place.

He didn't care about the questions that hadn't been answered only because there were more that usually came up, and as he knew a scientists' work was never done. Maybe he could eventually get the Nobel Prize for his research with the two worlds.

Maybe that's what Christian, Kristen, Core, Reed and Renee were close to achieving, Cody thought as he continued to stroll across the grass of the kingdom. Maybe I can do that for them. He first went to the nursery and wasn't surprised to find Tapeworm already there, sitting on the ground with Canis in his lap, a bunch of other little kids about her age crawling over him and pulling at his clothes. I guess this is the best place for him to still be in contact with Max.

Then, walking out of the nursery and heading towards the fields he found Zack and Blazen helping along with the planting of new crops. Zack spotted his brother and paused in his movements, nodding towards him. "I thought you would be inside with Bailey, learning everything you could about the history of the kingdom."

"I'm going to do that later," Cody called back. "There are some things I need to speak to Mother Nature and Father Time about, but I can do that later." Cody then raised an eyebrow as he looked down at his brother, Phantom appearing on his shoulder. "So why is it that you're able to help them, but you won't even clean up your room?" He asked.

Zack wiped dirt off his forehead before raising a hand to shield his face. "I find this to be a bit more important than the cleaning up things that don't really matter, I guess." He crossed his arms over his chest. "In the grand scheme of things, this seems more important." He walked over to Cody, holding out his hand and the water-bearer reached out and grasped his twin brother's hand, pulling him up the slight dune before the two sat down on the end of it. "Which is strange, you have to face certain death hundreds of times before it finally clicked."

"Mmm." Cody nodded.

He looked out across the fields, watching as the workers continued to work through the blazing sun, digging up holes and planting crops. He couldn't help but notice that they all had smiles on their faces, as if they didn't have a care in the world. Magnus and the rest of his followers had been banished from the kingdom, who knew where they were. At the moment Uriel wasn't a threat or even a distant thought in the back of their heads.

Life moved on.

Did that mean the same back at the Tipton?

"Mom and Dad, they came back," Cody finally said, dragging Zack's eyes over to his twin brother.

"Really?" Blazen asked, poking his head around Zack's shoulder and regarded his master's twin with wide eyes. Phantom then appeared on Cody's shoulder and the two hopped down onto the ground between their masters. "I didn't think they were going to go back. Not after they ran out on us when they first knew of our existence."

"I'll admit their reactions weren't great," Phantom added. "But even I believed they would be more open to the idea." Zack pointed at the eagles, letting him know that he agreed with what the guardians had to say.

"Yeah, they came back because they saw that we were in on everything that was going on," Cody explained. "Which I'm sure was from the constant cameras that were being flung around in our faces." He rolled his eyes. "And to think I would be happier to sit in class and wonder if a battle barrier was going to come up rather than have a news camera shoved in my face." He brought his hair back behind him in a ponytail and released it over his shoulders. "They came back to say they were proud of us and that they know we're going to save the world."

Zack tilted his head to the side, giving a funny look. "And to think the least of their worries was whether or not I was going to pass my classes."

Cody laughed. "Or stay on your diet."

"Or graduate."

"Or get over my laziness."

"Or be happy."

Zack's eyebrows furrowed together and he made a sound of confusion. Cody sighed lightly tilting his head back and allowed the sun to warm his face. He hadn't meant to bring up a heavy conversation topic, but it had to be done. Besides, if it meant they'd be sure that they could keep going forward, with both himself and Zack at the lead of everything, being the strongest elementals of all time and being the lead around the prophecy, it was better to go in with a clean slate, where their past was expunged in many ways.

"For a long time Mom worried about whether or not you were truly happy or that you would be happy with your future," Cody admitted. "Because you could never find that one thing that you felt you were good at, that you were always being compared to me…" He lowered his gaze from the sun and looked around the fields. "Which I truly do apologize for, but it's bound to happen when you're twins or even siblings in general. And I'm sorry I didn't try to help you more. But you were the first one to be on board with this whole elemental thing…which I'm sure was for more reasons than one. You were the one that immediately wanted to start in on this adventure; who knew that we were destined for more than middle school, high school, and college. You helped me realize that I'm stronger than I thought."

"Okay, you're really starting to make me wonder if you're dying or if you have some sort of a love confession you want to tell me," Zack said. He held up his hands. "Either way it's creeping me out just a little."

Cody laughed again. "I'm just saying that, like Mom and Dad, no matter what happens, I'm proud of everything we've managed to do."

Zack studied his brother for a long moment. Gone was the boy that used to be so sensitive and so open with everything he ever felt, emotion wise. In its place was a confident eighteen year old boy that used his strategic prowess to help him, to continue to be Zack's right hand man, and figure out some of their toughest barriers in the Element world. "You don't think we're going to die?"

"No."

"You said that without hesitation."

"Yeah, well, you still owe me over 100 dollars total from all of the money you've stolen from me and I intend to get that back." Cody smiled and reached out, running his hand over Phantom's back. He then turned to Blazen and frowned, noticing the large scar that still remained on the guardian's back from the fight with Mother Nature. He knew they wouldn't be able to handle another loss like they had Max. But the fight were bound to get more difficult, if not more deadly and they needed to be prepared for the worse. "Have you seen Crystal anywhere?"

"Yeah, she , Rhu, and Riles went to meet their guardians' parents," Zack said, pointing over his shoulder. "Last I saw they were walking along the forest edge."

"You didn't want to go?"

"Nah." Zack scratched at his bare chest and Cody followed his gaze, lightly shaking his head when he spotted young women hanging around the end of the field, looking over at the twins and giggling as the older woman continued to work. "I figured it'd be better if I stayed here to help."

Cody nodded and waved to the girls before turning back to Zack and placing his hand on his shoulder. "Let me just remind of you of the phrase 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned' and that there's probably a reason that Riles' element is actually dark fire."

Zack tilted his head back and laughed as Cody got up from the ground, brushing off the seat of his pants. "Don't worry bro; I'm not going to make that mistake again." A strange, peaceful expression slid onto his face as he brought up his knees and wrapped his arms around them. "I've already lost someone special to me; I'm not going to do it again."

Cody nodded and patted his brother once more before heading off in the direction that Zack had pointed him to. Along the way he found Patrick, Noah, Aaron, and Sydney listening intently to a story that an older man was telling a group of people that were at rapt attention that told of some of the older battles the Element World had seen. Each of them carried brightly colored packages in their hands. The water elemental made a mental note to ask about it later, in case it would give them some leverage over their impending fight with Uriel.

Finally, he spotted the three cousins walking along the forest line with their guardians in their human forms, and an exotic looking man and woman along with them. Cody caught their attention and nodded before hurrying over to them.

"Hey Cody," Riley greeted him. She nodded over towards the man and woman. "This is Arielle and Kohl, DalFang, Dricer's, and DeathLiger's mother and father."

"It's nice to meet you." Cody politely stuck out his hand and shook Arielle's and Kohl's firmly. He then paused as he listened to their names. "Arielle and Kohl?"

"Yes, upon the acceptance of your element, animal spirit and your status of a guardian, you also get a name change that represents those traits," Kohl explained. His voice was low but very friendly despite the somewhat stern expression on his face. His eyes crinkled in the corners. "Personally they weren't my first choices for names, but what can you do."

Cody laughed.

"Did you want to come walking with us?" Crystal offered. "They were telling us a lot of interesting stories about living here."

"Maybe later, I was hoping could speak with you for a few minutes," he said to her. His gaze shifted over to Riley and Rhuben and they silently widened their eyes slightly, letting him know it was the perfect time to do so. Crystal shrugged and nodded before motioned to her twin cousins that she would be back soon and Cody took her hand as they turned from the forest and started across the grassy plains. In the distance they could see the mountain that loomed ahead them. Almost like a beacon of hope in a way.

"What's going on, Cody?" Dricer asked, leaning against his mistress's shoulder. He then turned and gently jumped up on top of her head, causing her to laugh and try to regain her balance. "There doesn't appear to be any sort of danger."

"Not unless you count Zack helping with the planting of food," Phantom added; a light lift to his voice. "I suggest that we all be very careful when our next round of food comes around."

Another laugh escaped Cody's lips. He couldn't help it, despite the seriousness of everything around him, something about being in the Element world made him a bit more carefree and less worried over everything. As a matter of fact, he was sure she was the only one that had forgotten what day it was.

"I'll keep that in mind," Crystal laughed. She regarded her boyfriend with a raised eyebrow, waiting for him to continue. Then a curious expression slid onto his face as he couldn't help but smile. "What's going on? I haven't seen you smile like this since you were star struck when meeting Lance Durham at the conference."

Cody couldn't help his excitement at having met the scientist. Not only was he one of the world's most renowned theorists in communication, but to know he had also dabbled in Elemental's studies, he couldn't help but allow his…overzealous excitement get in the way. It wasn't fault that he had weak blood flow; he passed out at just about anything.

"Today's a special day," he said to her.

Her eyes shifted around the area. "Because it's sunny? Or because Tapeworm and Sydney didn't actually kill each other enough so that he and Aaron had enough energy to jump on my back this morning?"

"No, I was thinking more like…" Cody reached into his pocket and pulled out what appeared to be a crystal rose. In fact, it was made out of water that he had manipulated. It had taken him a long time to figure out how to do it, but he used his ability of manipulation over hard water to form the shape of the rose and then turning it to a sort of gel and hardening it until it didn't revert to its normal state where it leaked everywhere. "Happy Birthday."

Crystal's face immediately softened and she tilted her head to the side, taking the crystal rose from him. "Thank you," she said sincerely. "But there are more important things to worry about than my birthday."

"I don't think so." Cody stepped forward and kissed her, happy that she kissed him back. "If we're going to keeping doing this…we need to remember that we're still human. And I think your birthday…your happiness, it much more important than all of this. Especially as we keep going closer to our potential inevitable deaths."

"Way to ruin the mood, Codes," Crystal remarked.

"Sorry, Tally." Cody gave her a kiss on the cheek then flashed a charming smile that was very much reminiscent of his twin brother's. "But I really do want you to have a good birthday, no matter the fact that we're in a world that we don't know how anything works."

Crystal reached out and held onto the sides of Cody's face, making sure he was looking directly at her. "I don't care where we are or what's happening around us. Just as long as everyone is safe. I care more about what happens to you guys than about growing another year older. To me that's just more time that we don't know anything, but more time that we're allowed to get better and stronger and stay focused on our well-being."

"And I'm saying that for your well-being we're going to celebrate your birthday," Cody insisted. "And you can't change my mind about it."

"I didn't think I would," Crystal said after a minute. She gave him a quick kiss before dropping her arms to her sides, sliding the rose into her pocket. "Thank you." She then eyed him warily. "And I don't care if you're afraid Zack is going to screw up our food but you're going to eat it anyway. You're too thin as it is."

Cody smiled at her sudden shift to her motherly tone. "I will," he promised. "But if I die I'm giving you all my stuff, Zack's not getting any of it."

"I'll keep that in mind." Crystal looked down at her watch and then back over towards the castle. As Cody watched her, her eyes shifted, irises changing into sits like that of a tiger's, as she took in the extra distance. "The others are going back in, looks like it's time for another practice."

Cody made a humming sound and the two started back towards the castle, holding tightly onto his hand. If they were to fight against their opposites, then he would be fighting against Zack. He and Zack hadn't fought in a long time, and even when they would practice they wouldn't come close to using even a quarter of their power. What would happen if they were to fight each other with all of their might, with everything they had, doing their best to take the other down. He didn't think he'd be able to handle it, even if it were for practice.

Still, he had to be prepared for it if they were to restore everything.

Cody and Crystal fell in step with their friends as they headed into the training room. Zack was pacing back and forth, seeming to have eth same fears that Cody had with their impending fight. However, that was until Mother Nature caught their attention.

"Cody and Patrick, would you please take place on the floor."